“How about” is often used by native speakers to repeat a question but with a different subject (often after a “no” answer). The best way to explain this is to use some examples:

A: Do you like horror movies?

B: No, they give me nightmares (bad or scary dreams).

A: Do you likeHow about action movies?

B: Yes, action movies are my favorite.

The part of the question that would be repeated, “Do you like”, is replaced with “How about”. Notice that the person being asked the question can also use “How about” as in:

A: Would you like to play baseball?

B: No, I don’t like baseball. How about football?

A: Sorry, I don’t know how to play football. How about tennis?

B: Sure. Tennis sounds good.

As long as you are asking the same kind of question, you can use “how about” as many times as you want. You are also not limited to replacing nouns in the question; you can also replace verbals (infinitives or gerunds). For example:

A: Do you want to go shopping this weekend?

B: No, I don’t have any money. How aboutplaying a board game?

There is just one final note. You must use a gerund (verb + ing) after “How about”, you can’t use the infinitive (to + verb).

Native speakers use “How about” very often in conversation because it is shorter and faster than repeating an entire question over and over. Try it yourself in your next conversation.